I Saw The Devil

Kim Soo-Hyeon (played by Lee Byung-hun) is a secret agent gone rogue when his pregnant fiancee is murdered by serial killer Kyung Chul (played by Choi Min-Sik). What ensues is a slow but necessary game of cat and mouse where the chase and punishment seems to be more important than the final blow.

Not a film for the squeamish, this packs buckets of blood guts gore and of course violence. So if you're not comfortable with that then this is probably one to sit out. Like many Korean films about revenge, the stories are strongly character driven.  More than the act of revenge itself is how it is undertaken as it unfolds, consuming the avenger. There have been questions as to why didn't he just kill with him the big rock in the greenhouse, and yes, I confess, I too wondered at times why the film continued the way it did. At times I found it agonizingly slow as we moved along with Soo-Hyeon as he watches and pounces on Kyung Chul once he first found him. There are those who offer theories that he enjoys the hunt, he has become the murderer. But I wonder as the lines between good and bad blur, when right and wrong is only in the eye of the beholder, that perhaps there is another reason for the number of catches and releases.

As with a number of foreign films, we do lose some information in translation, and one thing I found missing is the backstory of both men.  Aside from what we know them to be, what were their beliefs in the past? Why did Kyung Chul leave his family? What led to Soo-Hyeon's unrelentless and continuing pursue of Kyung Chul? Yes, he wanted to torture him as much as possible - initially each time saving a new victim from the fullness of his wrath as he delivers a blow to Kyung Chul. Note the phrase "hands, feet, and head". But perhaps there is a small part in him that is uncapable of killing and rather he lets KC go to see if he would change after his punishment.  Listening in and tracking him - it becomes clear KC is not sorry and will not stop. In the end, SH is left to deliver the last and final blow - which he doesn't even physically do.

The beauty of this film lies in the strength of the actors - their expressions and mannerisms speak so much without speaking. The intensity, the pain, the insanity and yes even the calmness renders us into a world where we just the bad guy to go away.  Upon thinking back and analyzing, it's almost poetic sprinkled with symbolisms and connections throughout.

3.5/5